Lead Story

The Senate is again trying to tackle the politics of health care. Rather than going for sweeping changes, lawmakers are acting more like handymen this time, looking for tweaks and fixes that will make the system that's already in place work better. Sen. Lamar Alexander , R-Tenn., is leading the effort to stabilize the Affordable Care Act's insurance markets for next year. He's trying to get a bipartisan bill together in the next 10 days, he said Thursday. He's working against the clock;...

I know about teenage daughters, believe me --- rebel they will, and Scarlett Johansson's daughter Suzanne shows teen anguish and rebellion as authentic as could be.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

Veteran editor Eva Gardos ("Mask") has her first directorial production with "An American Rhapsody." It's a story of a young girl's odyssey from Hungary to the U.S. in the 1940's, bouncing from her natal to adopted families with the help of her grandmother.

If you understood that "Seinfeld" was about nothing, then you will accept that "Vertical Ray of the Sun" is about almost nothing.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

If you understood that "Seinfeld" was about nothing, then you will accept that "Vertical Ray of the Sun" is about almost nothing. For instance, Hanoi is awash in color and brother and sister listen to Lou Reed while they exercise their bodies and exorcise their incestuous longings. Nothing else happens.

The Coen brothers are back with their usual barnyard of eccentric characters.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

I haven't quite figured out why I love film noir, but the Coen Brothers make me remember some of the reasons. Cinematographer Roger Deakin drenches the shots in vivid black and white, reminding me of noir's diet of good and evil, like a virginal young musician who suprisingly goes down on Billy Bob Thornton's Ed to reward him for trying to help her, thus precipitating an almost deadly accident because of the reward.

Live From Studio A

Old Salt Union will perform Live From Studio A during the Global Village in advance of their show at Woodland's Tavern with The Squirrel Kickers! Tune in for live music, conversation and a chance to win tickets to the show! It's all waiting for you on 90.5FM Columbus, 106.3FM Newark and on line at www.wcbe.org! LISTEN HERE !

Live From Studio A Pic of the Week

Warren Haynes!

Science, Technology & Environment

The chief scientist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is typically a low-profile job in any presidential administration. But President Trump's nomination of his former Iowa campaign manager for the post is raising concern in the scientific community and beyond about the politicization of science policy in the Trump administration. Among the concerns: Sam Clovis isn't a scientist. He holds a doctorate, but it's in public administration and not a scientific discipline. If confirmed, Clovis...

Arts & Life

The Department of Education will change its approach to campus sexual misconduct and begin a public notice and comment process to issue new regulations, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced today. In a speech at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, DeVos decried "a system run amok," "kangaroo courts" and repeatedly emphasized the plight of the accused. "One rape is one too many ... one person denied due process is one too many," she said. Outside, protesters yelled, "Stop...